Most societies that developed in ancient civilizations were centered around their belief systems. The Egyptians and the Mesopotamians were no different in this sense. Both civilizations were polytheistic and built elaborate temples to praise their gods. Additionally, the leaders in both regions were believed to be related to the gods because of the great power they held and the wealth under their control. However, the Mesopotamians had a pessimistic outlook on life because of the unpredictability of their environment. The Egyptians, on the other hand, had an optimistic outlook because the Nile River inundated their region regularly, which could be predicted by the stars. The similarities and differences in the religions of these two regions may be attributable to the relative geographical isolationism of the two areas, which allowed them to develop without the influence of outside cultures.

Both ancient cultures built sophisticated monuments to praise their gods. The Egyptians constructed a vast network of impressive temples to honor their many gods, each of which had an elite staff of priests whose job was to care for the temple and the gods. One of the most prominent temples was Abu Simbel, which was carved out of the side of a cliff and had four giant statues of Ramses, the “Alexander the Great” of Egypt, guarding the entrance. Another notable example was the mortuary temple of King Khufu at Giza, which had polished limestone floors and ornately painted columns. The Mesopotamians built ziggurats to glorify their gods, which were considered “stairways to heaven.” One of the most famous ziggurats was the enormous, complex structure built at Ur which reached up to almost 100 feet. It was erected to honor the moon goddess Nanna, the divine patron of the city state. The gods were central to both cultures and, as a result, much time was devoted to constructing and maintaining their monuments.

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...Sonderegger
AP World History
Period:8
9/29/12
Comparing: Egypt and Mesopotamia
Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in terms of their writing system, they differ with technology. The Mesopotamian’s both were one of the first civilizations to invent the writing system. Both places started with pictographs. On the other hand, the Mesopotamian’s invented more important things than the Egyptians, such as the wheel and the sailboat.
Mesopotamia and Egypt both had the same types of religions, including the same gods and goddesses. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had supreme gods such as Ra, Amon and Osiris. Male gods had a female goddess as their wife. The gods and goddess of these two civilizations often had a human form and an animal form., sometimes the two forms were combined. For example, the god Horus can be shown as a hawk, or as a man with the head of a hawk.
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in their agriculture. They both had rivers such as the Nile River and the Euphrates and Tigris River provided silt to help their crops grow. They both had very fertile land, but neither of them received enough rain to grow the crops. During the year 3000 B.C, farmers came up with a way to help them with their crops; they invented the plow that the oxen could pull. During that same period of time,...

...Features | Mesopotamia | Shang China |
Community Development * Large settlements * Stable food supply * Trade and communication | Most of the settlements began along the borders of Mesopotamia and date from the 10th to the 9th millennium BC. Because of the dry climate and flooding of the river, farmers had to adapt and eventually began to grow crops of fruits and vegetables. | People settled towards the middle or lower parts of the Yellow River in places called urban centers. They built the 1st real cities in China; they also built palaces and temples. The settlements began to start crops along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. In the growing industry fishing became popular just like agriculture, even handcrafting. |
Organized Systems * Religious systems * Military authority * Civil authority * Economic authority | Sumerians believed in Polytheism and devoted all their prayers and offerings to their Gods, in believing that they controlled the nature of their agriculture. City-states ruled by a king who claimed divine authority. The government helped regulate religion and enforce duties, also providing a system of courts for justice. To keep his people in order King Hammurabi created a document for his people creating justice for the innocent and the guilty. Each city-state regulated their own trade and controlled much of their own businesses. Their business dealt with agriculture and clothing, basic...

...﻿
The early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt were very similar, but they were also different in some ways. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt developed their civilizations centered on rivers, but these rivers were polar opposites. Mesopotamia was between two rivers called the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt’s civilization developed around the Nile River. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers differed from the Nile River. The Nile River was calm, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were wild and very unpredictable. Since these rivers had opposite behaviors, Mesopotamia’s specialty was in irrigation, while Egypt was a more agricultural society. Mesopotamia and Egypt were very similar in their roots, but they also had distinctive forms of social organization and religious observance that developed because of the rivers that surrounded them.
Mesopotamia’s social organization was a way to differentiate between rulers and those who were commoners. Each city-state in Mesopotamia had elders and young men that made decisions for the community. Rulers protected their access to both political and economic resources by creating systems of bureaucracies, priesthoods, and laws. Priests and bureaucrats served their leaders well, defending and advocating rules and norms that validated the political leadership. Lists of professions were passed around so each person...

...Egypt and Mesopotamia had many differences in political structures, beliefs, and economy. These civilizations existed around 3200 B.C.E-1150 B.C.E.
Egypt’s ruler was called a Pharaoh. Pharaohs were humans who were believed to be in contact with the Gods themselves. Many thought of them as Gods because of this. The pharaohs were built pyramids to house them and their family and/or servants bodies when they passed. Mesopotamia was made out of city states. These city-states were each self-governing.
Egyptians believed in a positive afterlife. They believed that mummifying the pharaohs after death would preserve their bodies for the afterlife. Mesopotamia did not believe in the same sort of afterlife. Mesopotamia did not have as much of a positive experience with their gods. Their prayers lacked the quality of relationships between them and their Gods.
In Egypt, the Nile would flood once a year depositing rich soil on the ground. Agriculture thrived and provided a surplus of food. The Nile would flood around the same time each year allowing workers to predict when the next flood is coming. Mesopotamia was near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These rivers often caused damage from flooding. It was very hard to predict when these floods were coming. The location of Mesopotamia did not provide them with natural barriers between them and other...

...Andres Mederos
AP World History
The Differences between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
There are many differences between the two civilizations like Government, Burials , Technology, and language. Now these can be the same but there not because these civilizations had there own ways on how to control what they believed and how they would sustain themselves.
Now the Burial techniques that the Egyptians used was very clever and like professionally done because they thought in the after life that they would need there body to use so they would mummify only the top classes like the pharaohs and priest but if you had a lot of money then you could actually get mummified properly if you were a rich merchant for example. Now for the Mesopotamians it was different because they found there bodies wrapped around in carpets and the children’s bodies were found in big jars and some had precious artifacts and believed to have been belonged to a royal family of some sort. So to say the Egyptians knew how to mummify really good almost too good but that’s what they have to learn to get it right for there pharaoh and other high level classes.
Second, with technology Egypt has I would probably not call real technology but more in the academics but used in a way for technology but ancient Egypt achieved a relatively high standard of productivity and sophistication. And the Egyptians created there...

...﻿Kate Ward
Per. 3
9/11/13
River Valley civilizations were the first to occur throughout time. Two of the most advanced were Egypt and Mesopotamia. Although both had a male dominant government that was supported by a patriarchal king or leader, Egypt had a strong, centralized government whereas Mesopotamia was decentralized and was based upon small city-states operating independently. To add, Egypt was also classified as self sufficient rather than Mesopotamia who relied on trade because of unstable agriculture. Due to Egypt surpassing Mesopotamia in areas such as governmental structure, self sufficiency, and cultural traditions, Egypt proves to be the more advanced society.
Environmental and geographical factors highly influenced both Egyptian and Mesopotamian society. Both civilizations had periodic flooding occurring nearby. This could be viewed in both a positive and negative outlook, but unfortunately for Mesopotamia, residents had to deal with the Tigris and Euphrates River which caused irregular flooding and this then resulted in unstable agriculture, making the Mesopotamians come up with other ways to make things all the more convenient. Egypt on the other hand, had to deal with the Nile River which affected the civilization in a much more positive manner. Egyptians had the capability to predict when the...

...World History
3rd
Similarities/Differences of Mesopotamia and EgyptMesopotamia and Egypt have many similarities and differences in many aspects. Though regionally close, Egypt and Mesopotamia had many differences, such as social structure and government structure. While both civilizations differed as in social structure of their society and government structure; they also had similar aspects as in cultural development. Comparing the two, they both had close advances in culture and a polytheistic religion.
The one aspect that sets apart the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations the most is their social structure. While Mesopotamia had a punctuated and defined social structure, Egypt had a less distinct division of classes. In Mesopotamia, there was the ruler and at the top of all classes while just below the ruler were the bureaucrats from the city-states. In addition to the upper class were priests, military officers, and soldiers. Middle class consisted of merchants, artisans, laborers, and farmers. Lower class consisted of slaves who were usually prisoners of war. In Egypt, this was generally the case in social structure except for some differences. One of them is that there was a small upper class with the Pharaoh being...

...Comparing and Contrasting the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Civilizations
The Mesopotamian (in modern day Iraq) and Egyptian (in modern day Egypt) civilizations flourished around 3500 BCE. They were River Valley civilizations that thrived on agriculture. During their reign, they were very prosperous and shared similarities and differences. Differences between them were that Mesopotamia’s environment hindered their civilization in warfare and agriculture while Egypt’s environment strengthened it and in their patriarchy society, women were treated more as equals to men in Egypt than in Mesopotamia. They were similar in ways such as, they both incorporated and influenced the culture of neighboring peoples. The environment in Egypt has special features that the Mesopotamia lacked that ensured a prosperous civilization. Women were entitled to rights in Egypt that only men were allowed to have in Mesopotamia. However, they both gained new cultures and tools by traveling peoples and left their marks on other civilizations.
The environment of Mesopotamia and Egypt differed greatly. In Mesopotamia, they relied on two river valleys, Tigris and the Euphrates. Both were used for irrigation to produce agriculture. However, the Rivers were very unpredictable and prone to flooding unexpectedly and...